


Warning

by orphan_account



Series: Space Motel [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Black market dealing, Gen, Sci-Fi Setting, There's like one mention of suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-08
Updated: 2019-11-08
Packaged: 2021-01-25 05:48:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21351250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: The beginning of a friendship, at least not the one between the two characters in this story.
Series: Space Motel [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1539214
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	Warning

The streets titanium roads were slick with rain but rusted down enough for Jona to not slip. Zeus, this place really did have horrible buildings. No wonder the Victor girl told him to meet her here, it was the most comfortable place for a girl who enjoyed watching high class people to squirm. There was dents in the metal ground everywhere, every step he took was always over a small piece of the ground that had been indented. Lights flickered on and off, very uncommon, at least to him. That never happened on his ship. There were more spots of dark corners that the lights of cars didn't reach, very unnerving for a person from a ship with always consistent lighting. 

His shoes would smell of gasoline. The moons of Al-Jridah weren't powerful enough to power any lunar panels, of course they would still be relying on car gas. They wouldn't have the funding to get more powerful lunar panels either. The Victor girl would blame that on the GED, it didn't matter to him. 

His outfit was very conspicuous, he didn't realize how overdressed he was for the occasion. High quality shoes? Blue shiny vest over a dark undershirt? Strips of metal around his waist? The only way Jona could've made himself more obvious as a rob-able rich person is if he also wore a watch. The rest of the GED may have been right about him not being prepared for the meet-up, but this was personal. He would walk off this miserable planet with all limbs attached, and that was good enough. 

Jona walked amount the streets of Al-Jridah, taking in the refreshing scent of incense. He was near the destination, a massage studio that used handmade oils. More cheaper then using company produced oils, better smelling too. It might be a problem if every started making their own perfumes and oils though, the incense industry would die out. Easily solvable with a few strings pulled though, just food for thought. 

There was a rattle from above, when Jona looked at he all he saw were the pipes that were shiny on the bottom, worn down on the top. He worried for the water system in there, more worried about the shadow that moved down when he blinked though. When he looked down, there was a girl dressed in far better clothes then he knew she had. 

She had a brown vest on, a normal white shirt underneath. A contrast to the much more looser and comfortable clothes she often wore, at least in the occasions he saw her scuttling to her escape on her capers. She was mocking him and his kin, she knew he would stand out as a rich person in the streets of Al-Jridah. She didn't want to make herself conspicuous next to a rich person in her normal clothes either, thriftier and minimal washing possible. The vest and shirt weren't too fresh either, but no one would be able to tell. Antique, maybe. She even put her black hair up into an acceptable bun, she also brushed her hair last time he saw her.

She stared at the very bright blue robin pinned on his vest pocket. "Did you also put jewels on the bottom of your shoes?" She had a light voice.

"Shut up." 

"Something to discuss, Councilman of Trade?" 

Two businessmen walking around Al-Jridah is suspicious, but a businessman walking around with a girl in a thrift store clothing would've been more suspicious. He had to hand it to her, she had hindsight. 

Jona straight his back a smidgen, "You've heard of the breakout at Hatruo, the prison near Mañeirah, right?" 

"In the Areeah newspaper, I could tell what happened through the pictures. Smart guy, the one that broke out. Or girl." 

That was right, she couldn't read modern English. Only Genesis English.*

He continued, "Before that, there was a arrest at the Trasnään empire. Someone burned down a base there, losing many ships." 

She hummed, "With the war going on that must've been a hefty lost. Hopefully Councilmam Grandir won't be too upset, won't be too upset about losing his assets. Truly a crafty man who did that. Or girl."

Jona pretended to look around, as if he was worried someone might eavesdrop. "Now I'm not supposed to tell anyone this, but the people who looked into it believed the arsonist was after the valuable crystal stored there - hey are you eating?"

The Victor girl held a small container of smaller orange pills - no, beans. "Just candy you can find anywhere here Councilman. Carry on."

Jona falsed a chuckle. "You know, the very rare and valuable crystals kinda look similar to that, except bigger."

She let out an amused hum, "Coincidental."

"That wasn't the only incident involving the crystals, the ones shaped like beans. There had been many incidents where the crystals, like your candy, have been stolen."

"If they're valuable, it must be a loss to your trade. You could've bribed someone into submission with those very valuable crystals around."

Jona sighed, heaving air out of his lungs out of his throat into the street air of Al-Jridah. "It's no good, without those it will indeed be harder to pay for support."

"And trick," She added.

"Let's keep things technical, Jridan."

She rolled a piece of the candy around her mouth for a second, before responding. "Do you know how I got that nickname in the first place, Councilman? Do you want to learn?"

In truth, he did. It was very uncommon for a person from Al-Jridah to have such a earthy-European name in this era, much less a girl having a masculine name such as Victor. It may have been from all her victories.

"I came for business, not for stories." Jona turned his head to look at the girl, "More importantly, the scope of this area of void is getting dangerous with the war going around. Black market sales will get more dangerous to do, people will practically be throwing theirselves into suicide missions if they attempt to smuggle anything illegal onto a ship."

"Well that's good for the Council, right?"

"In some way, yes. But not so good for black market deals. In three years time I doubt will be able to send ships that aren't for war anymore, people will just have to stay on their home planets until the storm blows."

This time the girl looked up, she stopped rolling the candy around in her mouth and payed attention for once. "I assume ships won't be sent to Al-Jridah by then, right? Since people barely trade with the planet."

"That's right. Anyone trying to get off there won't be able too, black market dealers there won't get off. Since Al-Jridah has indeed been perfectly neutral, we haven't been able to do anything to them. We didn't have to. But now that the war is making space more dangerous, Al-Jridah may get hurt during the chaos." There was a young boy who caught the girls thrown container of bean-shaped candy. He ignored it. "It could spell danger for the person who escaped Hatruo, if they try to get the crystal that's safely in those confines of my homes. They'll have to find other means of income. If only they knew of this train of events."

The Victor girl raised an eyebrow. She already knew that the crystal was in his house.

She shook her head and picked a hat that lay where the young boy who she gave the candy too had been. "Of course, I wouldn't have anything to do with this, would I."

Jona straightened his vest. "Of course. If you plan on visiting, I must warn you that my house is quite a mess." 

She put the hat on, pretending to adjust it for a little bit. "I have other plans, Councilman. Get back to your very important work of ignoring my home planet."

Jona grinned, he couldn't wait to scrub the scent of gasoline off his shoes.

**Author's Note:**

> *There are two types of English, the one that was modernized in a age of discovery and evolution on Original Earth. And genesis English, the older English that became when people couldn't get the education to learn the advanced English  
I think this could be better but I like it so far! I may regret this and nuke it in the future but I liked writing it now so. Whatever.


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